Where to begin? This place exudes kindness. I arrived quite late and was met by Swapna with tiny Sita in her arms. Sita came to the Ashram just a couple of weeks old. She was premature and tiny. Swapna is an American who runs the place while Rashmi (another American) is in Delhi with the older group children. Although ‘runs’ the place is probably not the correct term as everyone does their bit with no feelings of hierarchy. My room is large with 2 beds, 2 ceiling fans and en ensuite bathroom, with a door into the inner area (it’s built around an internal covered courtyard) and a door to the wide balcony that runs around the building. Only problem - squat toilet! But my second day here and my butt is beginning to accept it ... read more

As you now know, most of my blog episodes are long on photos and short on text, well sorry, this time it has to be the other way around. The taxi trip back down to Siligur was a lot less stressful than the trip up. I now realise that the taxi driver on the way up, took me the “quick route”, for that read, “scary as all hell route”. At NJP railway station the taxi driver found a porter to take my bag to the correct platform. The coolie was going to come back (for payment) and put my bag on the train once it arrived. Naturally being India it was running 45minutes late. A bit before that the rain arrived and my coolie was not in sight, so I grabbed another one and we hurried ... read more

I walked into school on Monday and the place was looking bright and fresh already. The money that I handed over thanks to Ken has been put to work and the classrooms walls are now pink and the ceilings pale grey. The workmen then proceeded to paint the window and door framed a dark brown and the smell was dreadful. So, after break the entire school took off just a little further down the hill to the botanical gardens. Luckily it was a lovely day and the children had fun running races and playing circle games. They still have a lot to do, but I am amazed at what can be done for so little money. As you will have seen from the photos, the school is very basic with very few resources and the children ... read more

Binay You know how sometimes, you walk into a room and automatically click with someone? Well that happened to me on my first day at Surattum Primary School. He was good looking with a very cheeky smile and sparkly eyes. And 10 years old! This kid stood out above the rest as soon as I started teaching. His English isn’t good, but he caught on to what I was saying so quickly and proceeded to help the rest of the kids. (sometimes by doing their work for them or calling out the answers all the time)! He was also second guessing what I was going to do next and was often right. Taught multiplication - got it, taught division - got it, given words to learn - done it. That night over dinner I mentioned to ... read more

A trip to the Zoo Darjeeling is a strange place, so beautiful as you approach it but once you are in the mist of it you become lost in quite dark little streets and alley ways with very few views. There are many sets of steep steps connecting one street to another in a kind of exhausting short cut. Always the dilemma, do I take the steps and will I make it to the top, or do I go the long way, winding left and right up the face of this bloody mountain. Am I sounding a little over Darjeeling? I think a change is in the wind! As you will have already gathered, in Darjeeling you can’t walk anywhere without either going up or going downhill and the trip to the zoo was a downward ... read more